Bulgaria's Agri-Environment-Climate Scheme & Eco-Schemes — CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027

Bulgaria's CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 — approved by the European Commission on 7 December 2022 and amended four times through February 2026 — channels €7.73 billion in total public funding (€5.64bn EU + €2.09bn national), managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food as the national managing authority. It introduces eco-schemes (Article 31) that pay farmers for voluntary environmental and climate practices beyond legal requirements, alongside an agri-environment-climate measure supporting organic farming (136,610 ha targeted) and traditional seasonal grazing in national parks, nature parks and Natura 2000 sites (10,455 ha targeted).

€558.2 million (40% of rural-development funding) is earmarked for environmental and climate objectives, and €1.03 billion (25% of direct payments) for eco-schemes. The pesticide-reduction eco-scheme alone targets about one-third of Bulgaria's agricultural land (1,679,400 ha), and on-farm irrigation investments aim to raise water savings to 17% and cut water use by up to 60% in areas where water bodies are not in good ecological condition.

Independent analysis by the Agricultural and Rural Convention (ARC2020) finds the plan represents a step backwards from the 2014-2020 period: only 5.34% of Bulgaria's Natura 2000 network (60,000 ha) is targeted for support under the new plan, down from 407,255 ha actually supported in 2020; the grassland eco-scheme targets only 27% of eligible grassland versus 114% of arable land; and biodiversity-conservation commitments cover just 1.36% of utilised agricultural area. ARC2020 also documents inconsistent per-hectare payment rates for the same activity — tree-clearance support of €591/ha on arable land versus €283/ha on grassland and €901/ha on permanent crops — which it argues distorts incentives away from grassland and biodiversity-rich habitats.

Read the full analysis: https://www.arc2020.eu/bulgarias-cap-strategic-plan-backsliding-on-nature-and-biodiversity/